SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details on The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 6 and that achingly uncomfortable incest storyline.
A full moon party, mystery drugs, buckets of alcohol and a questionable amount of unfettered testosterone aboard a private yacht – what could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out for the Ratliff brothers Saxon and Lochlan, quite a lot.
After leaving episode 5 relatively unscathed (on the incest scale) Mike White decided to go full brotherly love in episode 6, proving that there’s very little (if anything) he won’t touch in the name of controversial content.
Anyone who’s watched previous seasons of The White Lotus will be more than familiar with White’s exploration of sex and morality – and its undeniable intersection.
Take that debaucherously chaotic scene in season one for example, where a spiralling hotel manager Armond discovers the answer to the age old question of ‘how much ketamine is too much ketamine?’ bringing a young hotel employee, Dillon, along for the sexually explicit ride.
Or, when Tanya bears unintended witness to Portia’s lover Jack (played by Leo Woodall) fulfilling his “naughty nephew” role with his “uncle” in season two? While we soon find out the pair aren’t actually related, the behind-closed-doors act designed to disturb, yet seduce, was just one part of the transgressive, provocateur puzzle that keeps audiences coming back for more.
Is it any wonder then, that White chose to delve into – arguably – the last remaining taboo when he developed the incest plot between brothers? After all, in White’s own words, he did promise us “a hint of incest, or perhaps more than a hint,” in a New Yorker profile before the season aired, so we only have ourselves to blame if we felt ill-prepared for its arrival. And arrive it did.
Audiences squirmed in their seats as the brothers shared a kiss at the end of episode 5 – which in hindsight, felt positively puritanical compared to the following episode.
We watched on with horror as flashbacks buried in the heady intoxication of the previous night’s depravity slowly came to light, spurred on by sobriety and Chloe’s wicked disclosure.
Still fighting an unsettling sense of dread, Saxon attempts to dismiss the kiss as “a joke” before Chloe responds to his feigned ignorance with, “I didn’t force him to jerk you off,” before admitting she wasn’t as out of it as the brothers were. Adding salt to the sexual deviant’s wound, an appalled Chelsea remarks, “I don’t think there’s a drug in the world that would make me get with my brother.”
Elsewhere, the threesome’s other member, Lochlan, attempts to keep the intrusive thoughts at bay through a self-imposed spiritual cleansing, which – as it turns out – isn’t having the desired effect. We’re left with more questions than answers as the brothers grapple with the consequences to come – and if we know anything about The White Lotus – it’s that things are never quite as they seem.
Patrick Schwarzenegger & Sam Nivola On The Brothers’ Incest Plot
As was to be expected, the internet had some thoughts about the most recent episode of The White Lotus and its exploration of incest between brothers Saxon and Lochlan.
Responding to the influx of critical opinions, Patrick Schwarzenegger spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about his own reaction to that scene, admitting while the shock value is definitely there, it’s the least interesting part of the discussion.
“There’s some sensationalism, but then there’s also the stuff behind the wall of the character and what he’s dealing with in the conflict of what just happened. What is that going to do to who he thinks he is?” said Schwarzenegger of Saxon’s situation.
“His thoughts on, what is it like to be a man? What is a man? What makes all these different things that he thought he stood for in the episode and the days before?”
Continuing, he adds. “Mike does a great job with my character with that scene, but also in past seasons of always bringing something that is really fun and outrageous and sparks a conversation that gets people talking, but also has to do a lot with the pilgrimage of the characters’ story and where he’s going. And here, especially with the relationship Saxon has with his little brother. There’s always more than what just meets the eye of the shock value on the screen.”
The dynamic is well and truly flipped, as Saxon’s domineering ‘Alpha bro’ façade falls to pieces before our eyes. Similarly, Lochlan’s own reckoning comes with the additional burden of self-worth and sexuality, in relation to his brother and his place in the world as a whole.
From the start, we’ve watched as Saxon attempts to emulate his father’s success, while pushing the same agenda onto his younger brother, all in the hopes of finding a potentially unobtainable, validation.
Sam Nivola spoke about the aftermath of events with Deadline, revealing Lochlan’s own internal conflicts coming to the surface. He’s “confused because I thought that would be something that would make you [Saxon] happy. But now suddenly he doesn’t even want to talk to me or look at me. And I’m just desperate for any kind of affirmation that I’m normal, but I’m not, and none of us are. We did a weird thing.”
Whatever your levels of discomfort were watching that scene play out, it’s got everyone talking, and isn’t that the point?
Related articles:
- The Wildest Theories About ‘The White Lotus’ Season Three
- Here’s Where You’ve Seen ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Cast Before
- Is Sam Rockwell & Leslie Bibb’s Relationship “Rule” Behind His ‘White Lotus’ Cameo?
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